Cherry Nightstand #3: Raised Panels for the Sides

Rather arbitrarily I chose to make the side panels for the nightstand first. Actually it is only the second set of raised panels that I have done so I was kind of nervous and wanted to get them out of the way. For the rail and stiles I used “Sommerfeld’s Roundover Chip-Free Rail & Stile Set”. This rail & stile design eliminates chipping that is caused by a buildup of stress on the leading edges of the pattern. You can see in the pics below how the leading eadge is rounded.

For the raised panel I used a Sommerfelf cove bit. However, I planed the panel down enough so the back-cutter was not necessary. Below are a few pics of a finished panel.

By the way, there were no chips so I’m happy with the rail & stile set. That’s the first use of that set because my previous work was done with an el-cheapo set (which worked fine for soft woods).